


Novels

by Mansaeboysbe



Category: K-pop, Newkidd (Band), UNB (Band)
Genre: Bookstore AU, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 13:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16159769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mansaeboysbe/pseuds/Mansaeboysbe
Summary: When literary quotes begin appearing in the books you buy from your local bookstore, you can’t help but wonder if the new, shy employee is behind it.





	Novels

**Author's Note:**

> -Admin Mari

The old bookstore around the corner was fairly hidden back in an alley off the main road. Plants grew in between the breaks in the pavement and small, still-growing trees offered a little shade from the scorching sun above. What the trees couldn’t provide, however, was made up by the towering brick buildings surrounding the area.

The store itself sat in between a coffee shop and an art studio, so aside from the few regulars of the area, there was relatively little traffic to disturb the peace of the place.

About two years back, (Y/n) had discovered the bookstore when she had been searching for novels by some off-the-wall author. Along with new stories, she had found a second home among the aisles of bookshelves stocked to the brim full of yellowing pages and fading covers. Of course, new books were always on display up front in the large glass window behind the counter.

The best place to be, to (Y/n) at least, was in the back where there was a small seating area hidden behind a wall of ready-to-be used journals. The small, blue couch had sunken in cushions and smelled of dust, but it was still comfortable to sit in and often that’s where she was for hours on end after classes. She’d take a book she just bought and a coffee from next door and hide in the back to read in the tranquil atmosphere.

One afternoon, after a particularly rough lab that she had almost forgotten was scheduled, (Y/n) walked into the shop with the intention of finding a new author when she passed the counter. It took her a moment to realize that the man standing beside the register was not the older gentleman that usually greeted her. No, this guy was young and had black tufts of hair that obscured his view, not that he even looked up at her from his book in the first place.

After her double take, she quickly hid among the shelves and tried to focus on finding titles that interested her. She couldn’t help shifting some of the novels aside, though, to take small peeks at the man, who she thought was, if anything, attractive. He would let his eyes scan over the page at a languid pace and not once did he look up to greet customers as they entered. It seemed mildly rude but (Y/n) understood. If a book was completely engrossing, then there was no hope of returning to the outside world once a person entered the story.

A half hour of trying to balance finding a new read and gazing at the new guy led to no new books and eventually her giving up to go find entertainment elsewhere. She was almost disappointed when the employee didn’t look up as she left. Almost.

A week after that she had returned with a newfound determination to find a book since the ennui from before was almost crushing. She pushed open the glass door and walked straight to the back where classic novels were stacked all the way to the ceiling. It was just her luck that the book she had her heart set on was on one of the topmost shelves.

Cursing under her breath, she leaned forward on her tiptoes and tried in vain to even brush her fingers over the fading lettering on the spine. Falling back onto her heels she glowered at the book and decided that maybe she would just try a different book for now, at least until her body decided to grow just a smidge more and she was at an ideal height to reach all levels of shelves. She scanned the titles of a few of the novels in front of her but couldn’t help casting a longing glance up to the one she had previously tried to become a giraffe for.

She bit her lip in thought and then turned her attention to the counter at the end of the aisle. Again, the man was sat hunched over a book, apparently lost in his own world. It wouldn’t hurt to ask for help, right?

She took a deep breath and tried to simultaneously calm the butterflies in her stomach and steel her nerves. Walking quickly, she tried to get to the counter before she changed her mind and just walked out the door.

Pausing before the register she took a moment to collect her thoughts before timidly calling out, “Excuse me?”

He looked up, slightly startled but didn’t say anything. She took this as her que to continue.

“I can’t reach a book…could you help me?” She almost wanted to facepalm at how pathetic the words sounded but nonetheless, he stood and followed her back to the classic section.

She pointed up at the novel that had been mocking her height and he simply reached up and grabbed it with ease, since he was, of course, way taller than her. He returned to the counter with the book and she followed, digging around in her pockets for her extra cash and simply handing the guy a twenty since he had never actually said how much it was after ringing it up.

She took her book and change and left the shop feeling accomplished in both getting a new book and getting the new guy to look at her if only to do his job.

Within a couple days she was back, a new book in mind. However, as she entered she was greeted with a simple “good morning” from the older gentleman who was back at the counter after his unexplained absence. (Y/n) was slightly upset but replied with her own greeting as well. She took off toward the fantasy section this time and leafed through a few before settling on a more current release. She already had her nose buried in the pages as she walked back, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise when she bumped into someone.

There he was. Stocking shelves in a black sweater and jeans instead of running the register. He had paused in putting a book away and only waved his hand dismissively as she apologized. His lips quirked upward ever so slightly.

She rushed past him and up to the counter.

As she paid, the older man began telling her of how he had decided that customers could start a book list if they so desired, that way when they came in the next book was waiting for them. He asked if she would like to try it and she nodded before taking a sheet and heading to the back with the promise to return it before she left.

She took a seat on the old couch and retrieved a pen from her bag before writing her name and as many titles and authors that she could think of off the top of her head. She had already reached about twenty when she told herself to stop. It was a great idea, but she had to remind herself that sometimes the best part about going to a bookstore was the process of finding a new book she had never even heard of.

After that, she returned to her story and stayed until her obligation to school drew her away. She returned the page as promised and left the shop with a polite smile and goodbye.

This leads to the moment three weeks after the new guy arrived when she was standing at the register waiting for the owner to return from the back with the first book on her list. (Y/n) tapped her fingers on the counter and looked around at the small items available for purchase, mostly bookmarks and pens and the like.

She thanked the man as she paid and brought the book to the back, sitting on the couch as usual. As she reached the third chapter, a slip of paper fell into her lap. She glanced down at it and then, keeping her thumb in the book to hold her place, (Y/n) used her free hand to bring the paper up to eye level.

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”

Confused, she read it over a couple of times, but finding no real significance in the quote, she set it aside.

“Romeo and Juliet? Honestly, it would be more romantic to quote Winnie the Pooh,” she said aloud. Sighing, she got up from her seat and began to walk away, but she backtracked after a moment and picked up the paper before stuffing it back into the book, trying to hide her bashful expression.

She took her book home and even as she tried to immerse herself in the words, she couldn’t help but think about the note. It must have been a mistake, she decided. It was possible that that the book had come from a previous owner and no one had bothered to take out any bookmarks. She turned the light off beside her and tried to sleep.

With work and classes combined with insane amounts of deadlines approaching, (Y/n) wasn’t able to make her usual rounds to the bookstore until two weeks after finding the paper. She walked out of the coffee shop next door and walked past the large window to the door. A side glance showed her that the guy was again stocking shelves and not working the front desk. Her suspicions were confirmed as she entered and found the owner sitting at the register.

He struck up a friendly conversation with her as he pulled out her list from before. She could see that the first title was crossed off and that there was a tick mark by the second one. The older man called out after a moment.

“Hansol?” She looked over her shoulder as discreetly as she could manage to see the new guy looking their way with an expectant expression. “Could you go get Miss (Y/n)’s next book from the back?”

He nodded slightly before pushing one last book in place and moving toward the storage area.

“He’s quiet,” the owner spoke again, “but he’s helpful.”

She nodded in agreement, not really listening. She toyed with the strap of her bag as they waited and soon Hansol returned with the book. He stuffed his hands into his pocket and nodded at her thanks before returning to the box that held all the new arrivals. She paid for her new novel and flipped through the pages slowly as she walked among the shelves.

Again she settled onto the cushions of the blue couch. She tucked her legs under her body and buried her nose in the book.

It wasn’t long before a piece of paper fell from in between the pages. (Y/n) furrowed her brows and picked up the note.

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.”

This sounded cheesy beyond belief to her. She turned the paper over in her hands only to find Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne written neatly on the back. She laughed at that and couldn’t help but find the quote more amusing since she did indeed find it slightly more romantic than the previous note.

She placed the note in between pages she had already read and continued on with her story, a smile growing on her face. She was so involved with the book she was reading that she didn’t even notice a few of the journals shifting beside her on her right.

Despite her happiness at the note she received, she wanted to confirm that the notes really were for her and not just randomly caught in the pages. So the next week, when she returned, she told the owner that she was going to take a break from her list and look for an interesting book among the piles.

Hansol had been standing off to the side rearranging the books in the window when she said that. She watched him falter slightly in his movements before continuing on with his task.

Ignoring it, she moved on to the mystery section. It wasn’t a genre she was loved, but she had come across some stories that intrigued her from time to time. She rifled through different novels and scanned more titles before settling on a book with an interesting summary but a too cliche title. She whirled around to head back to the counter and almost bumped into Hansol who was carrying a new box of books.

“I’m so sorry.” She skirted around him, suppressing a blush. She could feel his eyes following her as she moved and she paid for her book as quickly as possible.

For another week she avoided both Hansol and the shop. But once more she couldn’t fight the boredom.

She looked around at her apartment which was filled to the brim with books. Honestly, it was so cluttered that it was hard to move from room to room. She sighed and decided it was probably time to try and get cash back from the store which she contributed all her money too.

She pulled an empty container out from under her bed and began loading up old books that she hadn’t read in years. Soon the box was filled to the brim and she had to sit on the lid to force it shut. Of course, that meant it was heavy beyond her limits.

So on a quiet Saturday morning, (Y/n) was trying to haul a container full of books to a store four blocks from her apartment building. She had to stop and catch her breath multiple times but just as she was about to drop dead at the entrance from exhaustion, Hansol rushed out the door and grabbed the box from her. She managed to send a weak smile his way and mumbled out a “thank you” in between her panting.

He gave her a look of concern and leaned his back against the door to open it. He let her pass him and then followed her in. He dropped the box on the counter and bent down behind it. She attempted to fix her hair by running her fingers through it as fast as possible before he stood, placing a water bottle down and sliding it to her.

She thanked him again and bit her lip as silence took over between them.

“Can I get the next book on my list?” she asked shyly.

He smiled broadly at her and nodded. He took off toward the back and she breathed a sigh of relief.

When he returned, he handed her the book and shooed her away toward the back, not making her pay because the insane amount of books she had brought in would surely cover her cost.

She waited until she was out of his sight before leafing through the pages in search of a note.

Sure enough, on page 36, there was a small piece of paper tucked in between the pages and she sat down before pulling it out, casting the book aside.

“He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.”

As she turned the paper over she found that in the same handwriting was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

She clasped the paper in both her hands and pulled them to her chest as she giggled to herself. With the third book came the third note and now she was sure there was no coincidence. She leaned over on the couch to look past the case of journals toward the front of the store. She could just make out the back of Hansol as he moved down to one of the aisles, no doubt to put some of her old books away.

For the next few weeks, (Y/n) would come in and retrieve a new novel from her list. She didn’t end up paying for most of them since her old books had been worth quite a bit, but every time she would gratefully take the book from either Hansol or the older gentleman and head toward the back of the store to look for the note that was always tucked into the book.

She’d received: “He feeds upon her face by day and night, And she with true kind eyes looks back on him, Fair as the moon and joyful as the light,” from “In an Artist’s Studio” by Christina Rossetti a couple weeks prior.

After that came: “By my soul, I can neither eat, drink, nor sleep; nor, what’s still worse, love any woman in the world but her,” from Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson.

And then her favorite to date: “She is a mortal danger to all men. She is beautiful without knowing it and possesses charms that she’s not even aware of. She is like a trap set by nature- a sweet perfumed rose in whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush! Anyone who has seen her smile has known perfection. She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture,” from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.

As time went on she gradually got Hansol to speak to her. It began as greetings and then gradually grew to small talk as he rang up the books she got. He would never say much aside from a comment here or there, but (Y/n) was glad that they had at least made a little progress.

However, she ran in one morning, out of breath with her hands on her knees, as she asked between gasps for the next book on her list. Hansol tried to get her to rest for a moment, but she insisted that he just go get the book as quickly as possible since she had to leave. He nodded and rushed to the back and, in his haste, he returned before he had fully put the paper in, to his embarrassment.

She paid no mind and got out cash as she answered his unasked question.

“I’m leaving right after my class, so I wouldn’t have been able to pick it up for a while.”

She took the book and the change and looked at his confused expression for a moment before noticing the clock behind him.

(Y/n) gasped and called out a goodbye as she raced out the door and down the street. She tucked the book under an arm and ran all the way to the campus before bursting into the classroom with a minute to spare.

She plopped down in a seat and placed the book down on the desk in front of her. She felt bad for having left in such a rush, especially when he had seemed almost eager to talk to her, but there really wasn’t a lot of spare time for her that morning.

Nonetheless, she looked down at the book in front of her and flipped through the pages until she pulled out the paper he had put in.

“Is it that happy stretch of time when the lovers set to chronicling their passion. When no glance, no tone of voice is so fleeting but it shines with significance. When each moment, each perception is brought out with care, unfolded like a precious gem from its layers of the softest tissue paper and laid in front of the beloved- turned this way and that, examined, considered.”

Hansol had written The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif on the back as usual and she couldn’t help but feel guilty again at her sudden departure. She and her best friend had planned a road trip back to their hometown and had planned to stay there for a while since their classes ended that day. A new summer to start with a return home, yet now she was feeling less enthusiastic about the whole ordeal.

That didn’t stop her from going, however, and she ended up staying there for a full three weeks. She had never been away from the bookstore for more than a couple of weeks. (Y/n) tried to enjoy the start of her vacation, but her mind often drifted back to Hansol and she couldn’t help but trace the words on the paper as she thought of him.

Needless to say that when she finally made it back to her apartment after many weeks away, she was restless.

The following morning she went into the bookshop with a longing she hadn’t really had before, only to find he was not there. Nor the next day. Or the day after. In all her worrying she didn’t even stop to pick up the next book on her list and left empty handed every single time.

She was miserable, to say the least. She had never realized how much of an impact he had made on her until suddenly he wasn’t there anymore. Eventually, she abandoned her list, telling the owner that, for the moment, she was going to bury herself in the task of finding a new, interesting read.

As the end of June came about, (Y/n) had once again brought in a haul of old books and was sitting in the back of the store as she waited for the owner to calculate how much it was worth. The bell above the door chimed and she turned her head to find a blond man leaning up against the counter talking the owner.

Her heartbeat spiked suddenly when he turned to look back to where she was and she realized that it was Hansol looking back at her, now with freshly dyed hair. He smiled at her and she was too stunned for a moment to do anything. He turned back to the older gentleman, asked something and then walked to the back. He walked back out with the novel she recognized as the next one on her list, and he came and sat beside her on the couch before simply handing over the book.

She gazed at him for a moment and then turned the pages until she came upon the little note.

“She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph, I don’t know what she was- anything that no one ever saw, and everything that everybody ever wanted. I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant. There was no pausing on the brink; I was gone, headlong, before I had sense to say a word to her.”

She flipped the paper over without looking at him. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens was written there.

A blush rose on her cheeks as she glanced over to see his expectant gaze.

“It’s true,” he said after a moment.

Her hands shook as she smiled up at him. She bit her lip in anticipation and he continued.

“I’ve really liked you for a while, and then you disappeared and I thought I had done something wrong.”

“But you were gone when I came back…”

“I had to find work closer to where I live,” he paused to shift his gaze around at the books surrounding them, “I like it here but it’s really far away. And since you weren’t here I figured there wasn’t a reason not to.”

She blinked at that and felt warmth blossoming in her chest. He looked back at her.

“I was hoping you would come back eventually since I still had that one to give you. I’ve never really been good with words so I was hoping to get the message across with those.

“So, (Y/n),” he took a deep breath, “would you maybe like to go on a date with me sometime?”

He looked at her nervously.

“I’d love to.”


End file.
